“You’re Just Doing Dumb S**t”: Exercise Scientist Bashes People Training With No Control in Gyms

Dr. Mike Israetel, a bodybuilding icon with a Ph.D. in sports physiology, was recently invited to the “Straight Outta The Lair Podcast” with the host Flex Lewis. In the podcast, Israetel debunked some training myths in the gym while calling out people for engaging in exercises without control.

He took the example of popular bodybuilder Nick Walker and how he has control over his body regardless of his 290-pound body weight. In the podcast, Israetel talked about how using different hand positions, foot positions, exercises, and flaring of elbows can make a significant difference in one’s training regime.

The Exercise Scientist talks about how “people make things up” in their training routine

Israetel said he is interested when people are training in the gym in a way that is not scientific but at times people do things that science contradicts. He said, “Like you guys will see people will do like one-arm dumbbell rows. They’ll do the mid-range only and they’ll use like the 200 lb dumbbell because it exists in their gym. Nothing wrong with that, doing for the soul ’cause sometimes you just got to live a little… But outside of just, which is fun to do with your friends every now and again you can’t tell me this is a serious attempt at hypertrophy training what you’re doing.” 

The Ph.D. holder then added, “We already know the stretch is awesome for muscle growth. We already know that full control of the load is awesome for muscle growth. If you don’t follow Nick Walker on social media and watch a 290 PB person train with full control so like what are you doing? And if you ask someone maybe not at the right time, they be like ‘Yeah man just kind of like you know’ shut up shut the F up. you didn’t think your way into this. There’s no reason to explain yourself out of it you’re just doing dumb s**t.”

He also mentioned if some exercise works out for some people with some reasoning it is alright but it should be an attempt to pretend to know something they don’t. Israetel explained, “If there’s some reasoning behind it, some decent attempt to not pretend you know everything, and this is the ultimate exercise I’m in. But there’s a very short walk from that to be like ‘this is it man I only train delts like this’ and I’m like okay very well go ahead and make things up.” 

During the podcast, he also gave his insights on some archaic advice, and spotlighting methods like, “Go heavy to train muscle and go light for pre-contest to burn fat.” He added that if you want to grow your muscles, you can train anywhere between five and thirty reps, and to burn fat, you have to work on your diet and cardio. Israetel added, “You don’t burn fat much by training with higher reps in your gym.“

He shed light on the fact that people go to the gym for two reasons: to grow muscles and to push their limits to satisfy their cathartic psychological effects because,” It makes them feel manly.” There is nothing wrong with the effect, but you have to focus on your training style and not train to fail too often. Earlier, Israel had communicated his take on the extreme emphasis on training to failure.

The science behind training until failure

The Exercise Scientist shared on his Instagram why one should not train until the brink of failure. According to him, when you are training somewhere around 85% of your maximum ability, you are getting 85% of your maximum growth. This means you will get around 15% muscle growth in a week if you go to 100%. But there’s a catch: you cannot lift heavily every week, and you’ll get tired much faster. He emphasized that to get jacked, consistency was the key to your success.

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Israetel stressed that what matters most is the ability to come back to the gym and when you train on the verge of failure, your body doesn’t get enough time to recover, affecting your ability to come back to the gym at your fullest. The Exercise scientist’s advice? Train until three reps shy of failure, giving muscles adequate time to relax and show incredible growth.

As Mike Israetel’s recent take showcased, many pretend to know about their gym routines, but in reality, they may not have an idea of what is going on. This is what the Exercise Scientist is trying to change with his fitness tips. Do you agree with his comments?

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